Do I Have to Shave My Head Before a Hair Transplant?

Hi Dr. Mohebi, I am planning to have an FUE transplant to add to the density of my hair in the front and along the hairline. Do you always shave the patient’s hair before a hair transplant? Is there any way it could be done with long hair?

A:

It is usually not mandatory to shave a patient’s head before an FUE procedure. Both types of hair transplant (FUE or strip) could be done with very minimal or no shaving.

In the strip method, shaving could be limited to the area of the strip that will be removed and patient will have long hair on both sides of wound that will cover it. Similarly, in FUE, the donor shaving could be done in layers and longer neighboring hair can cover the shaved bands easily. Layer shaving in FUE transplants can eliminate the appearance of a shaved head, but only if you leave your hair longer on the back and sides.

Shaving the donor area in layers allows us to harvest up to 2000 grafts in one day. However, it might not be possible to harvest more than that. For larger sessions we need to have access to the entire donor area and shaving in layers might not be possible.

We also perform smaller FUE sessions without any shave at all. We call these smaller hair transplants “Celebrity Hair Transplants” due to their popularity among celebrities who do not want to have any evidence of a hair transplant, even in the first few days after their procedure. This procedure allows the surgical team to cut only the hair that needs to be harvested, so there is no visible shaved area on the back of the head.

Do you have a question for Dr. Mohebi? Email us at info@parsamohebi.com!